Elysia

It’s different for everyone, but for many, it creeps in without a sound.

Life become monotonous, not necessarily in routine but in the way that your body feels as you move through each day.

They say it’s the nature of growing older. Family, work, responsibilities. Your TV tells you the world is burning down outside your door and you reminisce a feeling that you no longer have words for.

Maybe you’ve really been through it the past few years. Maybe you can’t find a “reason” for what’s trying to get your attention inside. All you know is that at this point, you can’t unsee it. 

You're at a transitional time in your life. Whether it's internal or more external, and you can feel your heartstrings being pulled towards change.

You crave an energetic upgrade. Clarity, depth, purpose, healing. 

You're ready to continue releasing the layers that life has added on, returning back to the truest version of you that is radiant and full of vitality.

A woman that is sure of herself and deep in devotion of honoring whatever that needs to look like. Meeting each day with a level of excitement, joy and unbridled hope as you embody an essence that is ready to fully experience the full spectrum that life has to offer.

So you jump. An opportunity that could easily be “too much” in so many ways, but you can’t say no.

You know that you were made for more than what you’ve experienced, or the stories that you once operated by.

You say yes to a pilgrimage that is beyond your comfort zone but hasn't left your thoughts since you heard about it.

And on a random day in October, you wake up gently to the sun floating up from the horizon on the Red Sea.

Orange floods the sky, you walk out of your cabin and the warm air whips through your hair. You can hear the soft waves against reef and quiet voices from the top deck.

You walk up the spiral stairs to the other women drinking their tea and sitting with a snack. Everyone quietly allowing themselves to come online, syncing their breath with the waves.

You hear the bell being rung with excitement from downstairs - dolphins. 

Everyone smiles and you begin to gather at the stern of the boat as you find your snorkel and flippers to load into the zodiacs. It’s your first swim with them of the day and you can’t wait to bathe in the crystalline waters once more.

Your stomach is fluttering with butterflies, you get to where the dolphins came into the reef that day and softly drop into the water.

Pure bliss.

You feel your heart expand, you’re filled with awe and wonder as the wild spinner dolphins swim beneath and around, playing with each other and curious enough to let you be a part of it.

You hear their echo, make eye contact with one as it gracefully swims past. You laugh, tears fall.

You bask in the vibration of excitement with the women around you as you float above, witnessing the miracle of experiencing heaven on earth.

As the dolphins drift back to sea, you climb back into the zodiac for the 5 minute drive back to the yacht that we call home for the week.

Breakfast is waiting and you dry off as you go into the parlor to enjoy some fresh fruit, protein and a system drenched in oxytocin.

The air is full of salt and laughter and you wander out to decide where your time will be spent.

A late morning nap. A few pages of your favorite book in the shade. A small circle of friends pulling oracle cards together or playing dominos with the crew.

Some women take extra space to integrate and rest alone in uninterrupted feminine flow. Others seek play, connection and adventure, twirling through the coral between planned swims or practicing yoga on the rooftop.

Lunch roles around, you’re served and cared for by the warm hearted souls that steward the boat.

After, you’re met with a little more free time. You might choose to journal, or sign up to receive an energy healing session from myself or the guest healer Kristi. All the while soaking in the magic that is Sataya Reef.

Your body feels soft, your nervous system in a state of rest for the first time in ages.

You climb into the zodiac for a second swim out in the reef with the dolphins or to explore other places that make you inner mermaid sing.

When you return you may be met with music for a dance party, and a fresh juice or chilled hibiscus tea.

You rinse off, grab your drink and maybe decide to dance, because, you’re in Egypt on a boat girlfriend.

After some fun and celebration everyone parts ways before often a third swim later in the afternoon with the dolphins if they return.

Once back, some evenings will be spent together in ceremony to integrate the goodness from the day.

We’ll share from the heart, dive into energetic and somatic practices and sink further into our bodies with gratitude.

The sun sets over the mountains far in the distance and everyone gathers for dinner. Bonds form, stories are shared and a sense of calm and belonging rocks in the dark waters.

You wind down, maybe lay out beneath the brightest stars you’ve ever seen, tracing constellations with the tip of your finger. Emotions of pure joy and gratitude resonate from every cell of your being.

You eventually climb into bed with a sun kissed nose and soul on fire, and in the morning - you rise to the sun again.

This is a typical day that you will experience if you join us for Elysia, the retreat.

Elysia is a noun for paradise or heaven. It is my feeble attempt at describing what a week living on a boat in the Sataya Reef, Red Sea, Egypt is like.

Words could never do justice what just one day here offers the soul, nonetheless 7 of them.

This is a journey that is more than a vacation or adventure trip, it is an opportunity to come home to yourself and remember what it feels like to truly feel alive.

I’m not trying to sound dramatic, but it is very possible that you will not return from Sataya the person you were when you first left. You will leave with a lens clearer than the one you came with.

I have experienced this for myself with over 30+ women on the trips I attended, and everyone expresses the same thing. They feel positively changed forever.

So let me be very clear, this is an intentional experience. 

It is a pleasure filled initiation into joy, presence, play, and depth. We are integrating the wisdom of the darkness within and welcoming beauty into our worlds as a form of medicine.

This is a remembering of who you are when you are unrushed, unguarded, and held by something ancient and intelligent.

You will be met with all parts of you; both the tranquil shallows, and the deep, dark sea within.

Spinner dolphins are master teachers of coherence, joy, and collective harmony. They live in constant attunement with one another, the sea, and the highest frequencies of the unseen realms. 

Swimming with the dolphins in the wild is not a spectacle, it is a conversation. You are not here to take, but to experience an exchange that’s unique to you.

At Sataya Reef, the dolphins choose you. There are no tricks. No feeding. No forcing. No chasing. Only presence, respect, patience, and resonance.

When you meet them in the water, your nervous system recalibrates, and your heart entrains to a different coherence. Your body slowly remembers how to play, how to trust, how connect with the Universe and move without performance.

Which is why I’m choosing to blend my expertise as a former wildlife conservation biologist, with my specialization as a transformational guide and energy healer to provide an ethical, adventurous, awe inspiring experience for those who truly feel the call.

People describe their experiences here in the reef with the dolphins as deeply emotional, profoundly regulating, joy activating, heart opening, surprisingly transformational and shockingly life re-orienting. 

Our time living in the calm waters of the reef invite you back to who you already are. Who you were always meant to be.

In Sataya, the heart shaped reef, there is a frequency that is potent and felt. It calls to those who desire to be a conscious creator of their own life.

 If you feel the call, trust it.

We would love to welcome you into the water.

NOTE: There is an option to upgrade (or join separately) a spiritual pilgrimage up the Nile to visit temples and authentic Egyptian experiences after. Scroll down for more information on this.

Sekhem

The first time you experience the journey from the Red Sea to the Nile, you realize very quickly that they are not separate experiences as you had thought.

The dolphins and waters of Sataya remind you who you came here to be, the Nile and temples awaken the fire to claim it.

It is as if every part of the journey is intentionally placed in front of you, and all you have to do is follow the call.

Leaving the coast for inland Egypt is an experience in itself. Desert sunsets, the sand beneath your feet.

When you reach the Nile, it is as if Eden was dripped down in pieces to remind you the lush nature that exists within.

An intimate group of soul sisters stepping into a world of untold stories and ancient priestess magic in the name of reclaiming their sovereignty and inner power.

A reclamation of the soul, illuminating the pieces of you that no longer wish to be hidden.

You will experience a side of Egypt that many do not get to witness. This is not the busy streets of Cairo, these are trips by car and boat that immerse you deep into the warmth and culture of Egypt and the land.

The temples guided through the eyes of an Egyptologist that is not only well versed in historical knowledge but deeply spiritual and intuitive.

Boutique hotels seething with mystic earth energy. A Nubian style sanctuary and organic farm located on an island in the Nile in Aswan. Luxury and culture intertwined with a temple next-door one of the hotels in Luxor and the other located on a family owned organic farm, next to ancient tombs.

Access into rooms and locations that many tourists do not receive access to. And an opportunity to explore the local culture through curated experiences within the community.

The itinerary includes some experiences not listed below, but the journey will look something like -

10/13 After anchoring into the lay lines that run down the coast, the group is transported in an air conditioned van from Marsa Alam on the Red Sea to Luxor on the Nile river. We will check into our first hotel that evening and may visit Luxor temple in the evening at sunset or dive into another experience per the group’s choice before a special welcome dinner with my favorite chef in Luxor and soft opening ceremony.

10/14 We will check out to travel further up the Nile to Aswan, visiting Kom Ombo and Edfu temples on the way, and ending the day by checking into the hotel on an island. You will have an opportunity to swim in the sacred waters of the Nile, have food prepared for you from their organic farm on site, and sink into the rhythm of nature and rest of the Nubian inspired earth homes.

10/15 We will visit Philae temple (Isis) as well as the original Priestess Gate, staying a second night in Aswan on the Nile and integrating the initiation you are building with a blue lotus ceremony.

10/16 We will likely explore a bit of the Nubian village across the way or sail around the islands to witness the expansive nature before journeying back to our boutique hotel in Luxor.

10/17 We will visit the activation that is Dendera temple (Hathor), followed by an opportunity to do some shopping at a local crystal shop and chance to unwind around the pool after. Staying again at the same hotel in Luxor.

10/18 We will wake up early for a sunrise hot air balloon ride to really sink into the beauty around us. After breakfast we will go to Karnak temple (Sekmet) and then a local herb store for shopping before checking into our last hotel in Luxor at a magical, family owned organic farm. Hugged by the mountains on one side, temples on another, and the loving animals on their farm to wander and process with. This evening we'll have a group healing and mediation to expand into all we've experienced at this time.

10/19 We spend our last day at Medinet Habu and Seti (Isis) temples. Mixing in some last day special moments before a sunset felucca ride before dinner and closing ceremony after.

10/20 Everyone checks out to fly home out of Luxor airport or continue their own journey elsewhere.

A week of soaking in the celestial codes from the temples, water, land and the experience of walking deeply with the unseen in sisterhood.

Two pilgrimages.

One remembrance.

Lumina Vida is the golden thread that unites Elysia and Sekhem, the waters of awakening and the temples of ascension.

It is a journey from sea to stone, from the soft pulse of venusian remembrance to the radiant power of embodied divinity.

Through these sacred voyages, we return to the living light within. The current of light moving through breath, body, and Earth.

Elysia invites you to soften into the feminine tides of radiance and rebirth at Sataya Reef.

Sekhem calls you to rise along the Nile, through the ancient gateways where inner power and soul meet sovereignty.

Together, they form Lumina Vida; a living initiation into love, light, and the remembrance that you are both.

Options for each retreat individually or as a package.